Illinois Chill 18 Morris: My Site News

Monday, January 13

Saturday, January 14Video from Practice with Lauren Lappin and Tammy Williams 1/14/2012 click on link

See Video from practice
Lappin and Williams Practice by HPM

Tuesday, February 6Reminder: Step Outside the Bubble. Click here.
STEPPING OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE Stepping outside the bubble is a way for a player to refocus, mentally and emotionally during a game. This is done in a couple of easy steps. First, when a player goes out onto the field, they need to draw an imaginary circle in which they should be standing every time the pitcher goes into her wind up. This is your bubble. While in this bubble you are completely and totally focused. Your entire attention is on the play thats at hand. The field could be experiencing a 6.0 earthquake and you wouldnt feel it. Your bubble is a vacuum, totally void of all outside distractions. These distractions could be, but are not limited to... - The weather. - The fans. - The other teams dugout. - The pain or discomfort of an injury. - The thought of a mistake you just made. - Thoughts about family problems, a big test in school, your ISAT test.- Thoughts about the great play you just made. - Thoughts about what could happen two plays from now. - Etc., etc., etc.

Your bubble is that spot on the field you dream about. Its the spot on the field that defines why youre here, why you love this game. Its the same spot on the field where great players have stood before. Yet, at each moment, just as the pitcher gets ready to pitch...its YOUR spot!

You know the count, you know the outs, you know where baserunners are and you KNOW the next ball is coming right to you! So, just exactly how does this bubble work? After each pitch take a step backwards, out of your bubble, and do the following: 1. Consider the baserunners and the outs and ask yourself; If this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it (REQUIRED) 2. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. 3. Talk to yourself about how to prevent repeating an error you just made. 4. Tell yourself that those idiots in the other dugout dont know how to cheer. 5. Wish that your dad would stop trying to coach you from the bleachers. 6. Remind yourself that youre going to have to ice that sore hand after the game. 7. Shake off any other annoying thoughts or distractions. 8. Consider the baserunners and the outs and ask yourself; If this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it (REQUIRED) Youve got about 10 seconds to do all of that, making sure that the first and last thing you do is to Consider the baserunners and the outs and ask yourself; If this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it (REQUIRED)

Next, once your self talk is over, and youve considered the baserunners and the outs and youve answered the question; If this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it (REQUIRED), then just before the pitcher goes into her delivery do the following---very deliberately: 1. Take a step forward, into your bubble. 2. Set up in the perfect ready position. 3. Completely eliminate all distracting thoughts from your mind 4. NOW TUNE IN AND FOCUS.

Fielders, focus only on the batter. Catcher, focus only on the pitchers release point. Pitcher, focus only on the catchers target. The key here is FOCUS!

Youve just spent the last 10 seconds talking to yourself. Now you focus. Tune EVERYTHING out and just focus. You get into the perfect ready position and just focus. BAM...the pitch is thrown, the play is over.

Now step backwards, out of your bubble, and do it all over again. This cycle of defocusing, self talk, and refocusing will greatly improve your concentration. Its a quick way of fine-tuning your mind during the game and could be just the key to help take your game to the next level. Note: While this exercise has been described as a defensive exercise, every player on the field can benefit from it. That includes batters, baserunners and coaches.

Submitted by: Phil Taylor

Monday, March 12Mental Tougness- Dr. Alan Goldberg
What's it take to become the best softball player you can be? Well, you know all about the physical practice and good coaching, about learning and working on the proper fundamentals at the plate and in the field. There is no substitute for solid mechanics and consistent practice! Let's not forget eating right and getting enough rest. After all, rest is an important part of your training. Also, let's not forget your physical conditioning. You have to be in great shape to play good ball. And last, but certainly not least, don't forget your sports psychology! Sports psychology???? That's right! Sports Psychology!!! If you want to get as good as possible, then you have to learn to develop mental toughness. You can't become a champion without a good head on your shoulders and sport psychology will help you develop these all-important "mental skills."

I always get a kick out of hearing athletes, coaches and parents saying, "Wait just a minute! My son/daughter doesn't have any mental health problems. Why do they need sports psychology? They're not crazy!" Sport psychology is NOT for crazy athletes or just those with problems. Mental toughness training is one of the most critical dimensions of your overall training as an athlete. It is the one dimension that affects every other aspect of your softball game. Your skills or lack there-of will make or break your quest to become a champion.

Ever strike out with the bases loaded and runners on in a clutch part of the game because you were trying too hard to get a hit? Have you ever gotten caught in the nasty clutches of a hitting or fielding slump? Ever choke before or been too psyched-out or intimidated to play at your best? Or maybe you've been on a team that always seems to lose games to weaker opponents. How about not being able to hit a certain pitcher even though you know she's not that good?

Each of these examples clearly highlights the importance of the mental part of this game. You can't reach your softball dreams without learning to develop mental toughness. That is, you have to learn how to stay calm under pressure, bounce back quickly from errors and bad at-bats, concentrate on what's important and block out everything else, use failures as a source of motivation and positive feedback, believe in yourself, stay motivated to work towards your goals, avoid psych-outs and intimidation and mentally prepare for those big games. These are just some of the mental skills needed to play good softball.

Sports psychology covers these "head skills" that make up mental toughness and can teach you how to develop and strengthen your "mental muscles." It's the only way that you can avoid the mistakes that a lot of softball players make. They just can't seem to get their head and body working closely together. So just how important is this mental part of your softball game?

A few years back I received a call from a very talented 13 year-old pitcher who was having some uncharacteristic control problems. Her mother had heard that I have a private phone consultation service to help athletes bust slumps and overcome performance difficulties. This 13 year old was so good that she could hold her own against college hitters. She had poise and control on the mound along with good speed. Unfortunately, according to her mother, she hadn't been herself for six months. It seemed that she couldn't throw strikes to batters if she thought they were good hitters. Anyone who she thought was a weak hitter she could easily pitch to and dominate.

How can we use sports psychology to get you back on track when you're stuck or struggling like her. What did this pitcher need to learn that could help any slumping ball player? Simple! She needed to learn how to concentrate correctly again.

The key to playing championship softball is learning how to maintain the right focus before and during performance. The main reason that softball players get into hitting or throwing slumps is because their concentration is off! They are focusing on the wrong things at the wrong time! Show me a game where you've gone 0-for, a time you've choked, gotten psyched-out or intimidated and I'll guarantee you that before and during your bad plays and empty at-bats you were focusing on everything except the right things! Before getting "beaned", this pitcher had two major things that she focused on when she was on the mound. In her pre-pitch ritual she concentrated on maintaining a feeling of looseness in her throwing arm and keeping her eyes focused on her target in the catcher's mitt. She knew that when her arm got tight she'd lose both her speed and accuracy so maintaining a focus of the sensations in her right arm always seem to keep her on track. However, since getting hit, her pre-pitch concentration was no longer on either of these two important "focal points." Instead, she was concentrating on how strong the batter was, what if she got hit again and actual flashbacks to the accident.

Proper concentration is your key to softball excellence. Learn to control your focus and you have the foundation skill of mental toughness. Control your concentration and suddenly you'll be able to effectively master the pressure of big game competition. Want the secret to good concentration? Keep your mind in the "now" of the performance. Ball players who mentally "time travel" into the future and/or back to the past during performance always run into performance problems. That's one of the mental mistakes that this pitcher was consistently making. On the mound she was in the past, thinking about the accident or in the future worrying that it might happen again. Her faulty focus in the past or future distracted her from remaining in the "now" where all of her best softball is played.

In our sessions I taught her how to get her focus back where it belonged. In addition she was able to learn several techniques to control her nervousness on the mound and to integrate these into her pre-pitch ritual. Finally I taught her how to master her fear and put the accident in the past where it belonged. There is only one thing that you can do which will always feed your fears. AVOID!!! The best way to overcome any fear is to do the thing that you fear most over and over again. In a short amount of time this pitcher was back on the mound pitching her game regardless of who was at the plate.

Be smart! Train completely! Work on your mental game and it will pay off big dividends for you on the field and up at the plate!

People were asking for relatively inexpensive shirts, etc. I have uploaded the logos to these items; I have no knowledge of the quality. If you order some, let me know.

Friday, July 7Glenview Tournament
Good work. Be at the field "spikes on" field 5 at 7:15 am. We hope to play three games on Sunday. Way to go girls!

Monday, June 24Lily Del Toro Verbals to IUPUI!

Pitcher Lily Del Toro 2014 (Lake Central, IN) verbals to IUPUI

Second year coach, Amanda Rivera, selects Del Toro for the Jaguars staff. Rivera, who joined IUPUI after a successful career as an all-American player and as an assistant coach at Northwestern, North Carolina and Indiana is looking to put the Jaguars at the top of the conference standings.

Chill Coach, Pat Morris, commented "the Jaguars are getting a great addition in Lily. She is an intense competitor with a strong work ethic who is unbelievably reliable in the circle. Her precision control and her superior movement has allowed her to collect 8 wins for us already in the new season. Her statistics are impressive, about 1 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) but more impressive is that every time she starts a game, she motivates the team. We could not be happier for her and her family".

Monday, January 13Kristi

Tuesday, March 13A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own Quotations
(1992)

Jimmy Dugan: Taking a little day trip?
Dottie Hinson: No, Bob and I are driving home. To Oregon.
Dottie Hinson: Well, you were wrong.
Jimmy Dugan: Was I?
Dottie Hinson: Yeah. It is only a game, Jimmy. It's only a game, and, and, I don't need this. I have Bob; I don't need this. At all.
Jimmy Dugan: I, I gave away five years at the end my career to drink. Five years. And now there isn't anything I wouldn't give to get back any one day of it.
Dottie Hinson: Well, we're different.
Jimmy Dugan: ***, Dottie, if you want to go back to Oregon and make a hundred babies, great, I'm in no position to tell anyone how to live. But sneaking out like this, quitting, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up, you can't deny that.
Dottie Hinson: It just got too hard.
Jimmy Dugan: It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great!

The Illinois Chill finished the McCook NSA indoor season in first place in the West Divsion and last night advanced to play the winner of the East Division, the Homer Hawks Black, in the championship.

In a well-played game against a quality opponent, the Chill and the Hawks held one another scoreless through the end of regulation and had to take it to International tie breaker, where the Hawks finally broke through 1-0, on a 2 out single up the middle that pushed across the winning run.

Before this Summer recruiting season begins, please review our profile book from the Fall and provide Robyn with any udates. As you know, this book will be sent to over 100 of our college coach contacts, so make sure the information is updated!

Make sure you are releasing the bat head and moving through to extension with the bat head pointed down the field toward second base. Some of you are rotating the bat head across the plane of the pitch and finishing with the bat head toward third base (for a RH hitter).

Click on the video to hear (and see) Sue Enquist give a good description of the mechanics of the release.

Grayslake North HS All State and three-time All
Conference pitcher, Kristi Gandy, committed to Lake Forest College
this week.

Lake Forest College selects Kristi Gandy to lead it in the circle!

Head Coach Pat Morris says: "I expect Kristi to have continued
great success at the college level as she has for us. She is one of
those pitchers that comes along once in a coach's career-she just goes out,
throws strikes, gets batters out, pitches as many games as you want (sometimes
with undisclosed flu) smiles, never complains and hits a few home runs to boot!
She has tremendous God-given ability, but you rarely see a pitcher who works so
hard on all aspects of her game. She NEVER gives up and the team EXPECTS to win
when she is in the circle..what a joy"

Yeay Sarah! We could not be more proud of you! The entire Chill organization wishes you continued success at Dartmouth.

Coach Pat Morris says: " Setting aside her great softball skills, I knew she had Ivy League potential when, after timing an opposing pitcher on a stopwatch I mumbled aloud...I wish I could translate seconds per feet into MPH.... Sarah standing in the on deck circle (and translating in her head said) it's 61 mph Coach"

We wish you the bestest.

Sunday, January 8Practice with Lauren Lappin and Tammy Williams

Thanks to Lauren Lappin and Tammy Williams for working out with us today!

Tuesday, October 30Illinois Chill Looking for a Corner Infielder and an Outfielder for 2012-13 to join very talented group!

The Illinois Chill 18 (Morris) returns the core of it's current roster for 2012-13. Due to injuries already, one season-ending, we are also looking to add a corner infielder and an outfielder. We will play in all of the major National showcases in the Fall and the Summer and will hope to again qualify and attend either PGF Nationals or ASA Nationals as we have in past years.

If you are interested in a confidential discussion, please contact Patrick Morris 312 515-3028 morrisp@jbltd.com